Jon Irons’ top-floor office has seating made of cardboard, an autographed guitar in the corner, a vibrantly colored bike that contrasts a pasty-white wall and a dead plant on a desk.
As the founder and president of Sitgreen, a start-up company that makes sustainable furniture from cardboard, Irons launched a Kickstarter campaign last month to help fund a new line of manufactured furniture that can be offered at lower prices. Irons said he’s more than halfway to his goal of $12,000.
The campaign will pay for the creation of Flat Die, a machine that will cut their cardboard products more efficiently, and another machine to cut their wooden components with more precision. Irons said these new machines would allow his business to produce their products for a fraction of the price.
“We’re trying to fight the lull that happens with Kickstarter,” Irons said, noting there is typically a large response in the beginning and then a drop in enthusiasm for the campaign.
Irons is promoting his campaign with a special edition cardboard chair. The chair will have a QR code that would take mobile users directly to his webpage that features a video about the company.
Donations are rewarded with a variety of products from a mini cube to a full, four-piece set of Sitgreen furniture, depending on the amount donated.
The idea for recyclable furniture came to Irons as an interior design major at Arizona State University after a class project where he had to create a chair using cardboard and glue. He didn’t like the end result.
“Once you saturate cardboard with glue, it becomes difficult to recycle,” Irons said
He said his new furniture design was initially held together by compression alone but he began to use metal hardware and wood for stability.
Irons graduated from ASU in May 2012. His business did not cost very much to start up while he was in school, he said, adding it had even helped fund his way through school.
“All the cardboard we used originally came from a couple bike shops in Tempe that had no way to recycle their cardboard,” Irons said. “I would go around twice a week and stock all the cardboard at my house.”
Grant Croissant, a member of Sitgreen’s advisory board, is a mentor to Irons. He said they met nearly three years ago when he had a couple pieces of furniture for sale at a Tempe market.
“I loved the aesthetic in his work,” Croissant said. “I loved the medium that he worked with. I was really impressed. From there I wanted to get involved and help him.”
Croissant said in just a few years, he has noticed positive change in Irons, although Irons’ vision changed a few times. He said Irons’ confidence, communication skills and overall professionalism have come a long way.
Russell Perry, another adviser and mentor, said the most attractive thing about working with Irons is his relentless drive.
“When we would meet at Cartel Coffee (Lab), he would have a laundry list of items to take care of,” Perry said. “I’m used to meeting and talking with people. Maybe a couple weeks later, they would have done about half of them. He would have half of them done in that same night.”
There are a few challenges with starting up his company, Irons said, especially convincing people of the strength and durability of cardboard.
“When people think of cardboard furniture, they think its throw-away furniture because it’s a waste material; it’s the thing that they actually get their furniture in,” Irons said.
Another difficulty Irons has is educating people on the amount of waste that ends up in landfills each year. He said there are 30 million tons of cardboard waste and 9 million tons of furniture waste.
“We’re trying to take a chunk out of that,” Irons said.
When Irons told his family and friends that he was going to start his own business, he said they thought he was crazy. His mom is constantly worrying but supportive.
“I can try and fail and do this,” Irons said. “But if I don’t try, I will regret it.”
Irons recently brought in Wayne Pearson, the owner of a Swap Smart in Goodyear, Ariz., to be the director of operations. He will handle assembly, sales and business contacts.
Sitgreen is also partnered with Goodmans Interior Structures, one of the largest commercial furniture distributors in the southwest, and Irons hopes that they will soon carry his product.
Irons plans to work with Westcor Malls, saying the company will set up furniture displays inside.
“I see myself as the Steve Jobs kind of guy,” Irons said. “I want to direct where the company’s going. I would like to design it and let somebody else sell the product for me.”
Contact the reporter at jkalafut@asu.edu
